Cross-border seasonal migrant labour and agricultural commodity production in the Ethiopia–Sudan borderlands

The Ethiopia-Sudan borderlands have long been a hub of capitalist production of lucrative agricultural commodities such as sesame that profoundly shape the political economy of these borderlands. Cross-border seasonal migrant labour is central to this capitalist commodity production but is often neglected in discussions, which chiefly focus on economic and geopolitical wranglings between different groups over the control of land and commodity production in these areas. If there is any talk of migrant labour, it is reduced a priori to how these agricultural commodity production sites are crucial in providing employment opportunities to migrant workers and how the flow of such labour should be governed. Thus, the role of migrant labour is rarely recognized, and the associated dynamics of exploitation in its varied manifestations remain obscure. This paper argues that the history and profitability of commodity production in the borderlands are connected to, and rooted in, the availability of vast, cheap, flexible and exploited migrant agricultural labour. This labour is the result of various processes, including land grabs, landlessness, conflict and climate change. The paper argues that the dynamics of exploitation occur not only to seasonal migrants in the capitalist production sites but also to their families and communities back home who shoulder the responsibilities of family subsistence and reproducing the labour of the migrant. The paper contributes to an understanding of the relationship between migrant labour and capitalist commodity production, particularly the crucial role of seasonal migrant labour and the dynamics of exploitation, both in the places of origin and the areas of seasonal migrant work. This will, in turn, contribute to identifying the needs of seasonal migrants and the challenges they face, necessary for informing political struggles for labour justice and socio-economic policies.